Bellarmine Matt Aiello (4) spikes the ball in the air against St. Francis Haakon Ellingboe (11) goes to block during boys volleyball match, at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif. on Tuesday, April 12, 2011. (Josie Lepe/Mercury News)

Bellarmine College Prep senior Matt Aiello jokes that he has zero talent for sports other than volleyball, which isn't entirely true. You won't find many high school sophomores who can easily dunk a basketball, as Aiello did when challenged by classmates two years ago.

Aiello, the Mercury News player of the year, has been reaching new heights ever since.

A three-time Central Coast Section champion with the Bells, Aiello will play for Stanford next season. Or at least he hopes he will play. Aiello, who says he is "6-foot-5 on a good day," will be the Cardinal's shortest middle blocker.

"I'll be the shortest hitter playing the tallest position. I'm hoping that they go by skill and not by height," Aiello said, "Because I have zero talent for any other position."

On the court, he was the West Catholic Athletic League's player of the year. After a standout junior season, Aiello was the focus of opponents' game plans, and the Bells took advantage of the increased attention.

"We had to use him as a decoy sometimes, because he's the guy that everyone focused on," Bellarmine coach Scott Petersen said. "Matt was going as hard as he could all the time, and when he was on, nothing was going to stop us."

Aiello was "on" often. The Bells finished 39-6 and rolled to their fifth consecutive CCS championship.

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Petersen lauded Aiello's ability to turn and keep his balance in the air on seemingly gravity-defying leaps, but he was just as impressed with his star's performance off the court.

"He was always looking out for others, especially the younger guys," Petersen said. "He would come to me and try to find ideas to help his teammates in the classroom or outside of the gym."

Aiello graduated with a 4.5 GPA and was planning to attend Princeton until Stanford offered him a chance to play for one of the best college volleyball programs in the nation.

He said he didn't want any of his teammates to regret not doing more in high school.

"I don't know what happened after middle school, but once I hit high school I realized that these years are going to set up the rest of my life," Aiello said. "I didn't want to look back and wish I had tried harder. I wanted everyone to have that same mentality."

There's not much more Aiello and the Bells could have done this season. Before their run through the CCS tournament, the Bells participated in five tournaments, where Aiello played some of his best volleyball.

In the CCS championship match, Aiello had six kills on eight attempts and several clutch blocks to help the Bells sweep Los Gatos. He closed the second game with a kill and was in on the championship-clinching block.

On both points, Aiello showed off the talent that stands out above all others, a leaping ability that Petersen calls "absolutely amazing" and Aiello chalks up to "good genes."

Aiello said his vertical leap is in the 40-inch range, and on occasion it still draws requests from other athletes, particularly those who play sports for which he supposedly has "zero talent."

"The basketball team practiced before us sometimes, and I know a few people on the team who didn't believe I could dunk," he said. "I just mess around every once in a while. It fools them into thinking that I'm decent."